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This is the answer. The question is how do we get billionaires and corporations out of picking our elected representatives. Thing is we all need to ONLY vote for candidates who support a public financing system for elections or we won't get it. Get it?

Jan. 4, 2015, 12:20 a.m.

DAVID N.

This is a great idea, but it's not possible under current law. This idea would become lawful if the constitution were to be amended to clearly state that FIRST AMEND RIGHTS APPLY TO NATURAL PERSONS ONLY.

Jan. 10, 2015, 3:37 p.m.

Dennis M.

I do not believe this is the answer to big money in politics. We need to eliminate ALL private money from the election process. If the goal is to make the election process a process of all its citizens then the money should come from all its citizens by tax dollars. This is being done in a small scale in North Carolina to elect their Judges and could be done over time in all our elections. This is the only road to having elected officials that are truly funded and elected to serve all.

Jan. 10, 2015, 3:47 p.m.

woz

It is time to nationalize banking and utilities and communications private ownership of these essentials is a joke since we the people paied for the infrastructures of these in the first place. Single payer health care, free education and guaranteed income should be the right of all not just for the plunderers and exploiters

Jan. 10, 2015, 3:48 p.m.

Patrick O'Dell

I agree with David N. Overturning Citizens United should be the main focus of all Progressive groups. We also need 100 percent publicly funded elections meaning natural persons only can give to a candidate. The American people own the airwaves and all the users of these airways should have to provide free air time for debates . No commercials are needed with the candidates discussing the issues in an open forum. Hopefully with moderators that aren't given a list of questions that the candidates approve.

Jan. 10, 2015, 4:20 p.m.

Neal H.

"DECENTRALIZE the funding of political campaigns, through matching funds or democracy vouchers to every voter, so that Congress is dependent on ALL of us, and not just the tiny fraction of the 1% that now effectively funds their campaigns. No real change will happen till this change does."
This is too vague. What do you mean by matching funds and democracy vouchers? You need to be more specific. You won't get my vote if you can't be clear about what you are proposing. Dennis M. has a much clearer proposal below.

Jan. 10, 2015, 5:38 p.m.

eaglemount

Release our elected officials from the pall of bribery. They need to be working for the betterment of the country, not soliciting donations. They cannot do this until they are released from bondage to special interests and are publicly funded by tax revenues.
Sign the petition and tell our representatives we demand the end of the biggest conflict of interest on this planet - the flagrant purchase of our elected officials by those who stand to profit by that purchase.
http://petitions.moveon.org/sign/public-funding-of-elected?source=s.tw&r_by=69509

Jan. 10, 2015, 6:09 p.m.

Path

Climate change is the BIGGEST issue we face. This should be priority no. 1

Jan. 11, 2015, 10:32 a.m.

Dennis M.

Although I agree climate change is a top priority, money in politics by big oil and corporations benefitting from fossil fuels is one reason we are politically impotent on climate change. Change circumstances you change the outcomes. My opinion is private money in politics regardless of its source since it is given always with special interest in mind is an issue fundamental to many of our problems and should be top priority.

Jan. 12, 2015, 9:17 a.m.

martingugino

Commercial speech and public interest speech are already treated differently. Speech by a business is commercial speech, or should be limited to that by virtue of the duty to shareholders.

Jan. 12, 2015, 11:13 a.m.

amendnow

Except "decentralization" or public financing cannot work until we can control ALL the money. And that unfortunately will take a constitutional amendment or a play nice Supreme Court. Consider that reformer "nirvana" is the scenario where each & every candidate opts to run with public money. Without control of "independent spending" each & every race will be decided by special interests who tip the scales one way or the other. We need the constitutional framework 1st! Details here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B9lgVX60_UrIRkRuMnI1ak1Lckk/view?usp=sharing
Rebuttals please.

Jan. 14, 2015, 5:11 p.m.

Dennis M.

Funding elections has to be all or nothing; either all public money or all private money. Control would be much easier with all public money for then rules and guidelines could be drawn that would be easier to keep track of and regulate. The downside would be the Beuracracy set up to administer such a plan but certainly billions of dollars would not longer be needed to finance campaigns by the use of public money. It would be nice to see all the PAC money be used to increase voter turnout, update the election process and buy air time for all candidates equally in forms of dialogue and debate.

Jan. 15, 2015, 6:46 a.m.

A. David B.

Dennis M. is correct and the only way to make this ultimately work is a federal constitutional amendment that controls the Supreme Court. The amendment should authorize strong criminal penalties for violations, including mandatory jail time. Fines are no deterent, time in jail is.

Jan. 16, 2015, 8:48 a.m.

Tom Strong

Fund the political parties and have the parties fund their candidates. (about half of all money contributed to politicians goes to the political parties. Any other way won't work.

Jan. 16, 2015, 12:49 p.m.

scott m.

David and Dennis, this is possible under current law and it is the most plausible short-term solution for the problem of big money in politics. We cannot stop billionaires and corporations from spending billions without a constitutional amendment or a reverse course in the Supreme Court. This should be the ultimate goal, but until it becomes politically viable, using matching funds, vouchers, and/or tax rebates could allow would-be small donor politicians to competitively campaign against big donor politicians. Also these are the only laws that could survive constitutional rigor in the Courts at this time, because it doesn't restrict big donors; it matches small donors.

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